. >> congressman steve from new york and chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee. good afternoon, sir. >> hi, martin. >> congressman, notwithstanding the fact that speaker boehner's office is considered mathematically dyslexic by many economists, has it surprised you some republicans have actually condemned boehner's office and would much prefer to keep taxes as they are and take an axe to social programs, medicare, in order to reduce the deficit? >> what's to surprising about that? for so many republicans, they said in the 1990s they wanted medicare to wither on the vine. you know, they now think they have the opportunity to do it in 2012. speaker boehner's proposal is based on the mathematical equation, two plus two equals whatever you want it to be. that's not how you grow the middle class. you do it in a balanced way. let's reduce the deficit we've already supported, $2 trillion in spending cuts, but let's do it in a way by asking the richest 2% to do their fair and grow the economy by making smart investments and things like job creating infrastructure. that'